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Now that many film-capable venues have equipment that may get used only occasionally, is there any reason to worry about xenon lamps that may have been installed 10-20 years in the past? Do the lamps fail due to age at some point, and, if so, do they just lose their seals and refuse to strike, or do they fail more violently?
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Well, ORC used to test light lamps inside welded steel containers mounted to work benches. They also mentioned that the glass vitrifies from being under pressure for so many years. So, I'd certainly remove the reflector and light it up one hour on and one hour off at least three times. I doubt I'd use a lamp older than 10 years old. -
May or may not be relevant as these are only 500 watt lamps and so are much smaller, but we have 2 EIKI EX-4000's with lamps from the late 80's, and they both still strike and run every time. They only get used occasionally and usually don't stay lamped on for all that long, which from my understanding is one of the worst ways to use a xenon lamp. One of them is pretty much at end of life, so it needs the current turned up all the way to hold the arc.
Again, not a perfect example, but a data point you may want to look at.Comment
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UNless they are Marc 300 or 350 lamps I would throw them away. A lamp explosion is likely to contaminate the projector with mercury vapors.Comment
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The EX 4000, that|s 550W Xenons.the smaller ones have a higher pressure per surface area on the glass envelope than larger lamps. Normally storage does not really matter. i have found people using NOS bulbs made in the 1960's in 2010.
It's just (even if the mfg is still in business) they wouldn't accept warranty claims for a "new, unused" bulb for a certain number of years after mfg.
There are certain brands I would not trust, but that's been the same, when we still had film and these were new, like Tungsram Hungary, Razno USSR, LTI , all known to me being explodotrons.
It could be that striking becomes difficult by accumulated catamination on the envelope outside, eg from the cloth they were delivered in. Cleaning with alcohol helped.
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I installed a Osram 1k lamp in my projector last year that had a manufacturer date of mid 90s. No issues here at all so far.Comment
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Hard to say if they'll fail more violently, but there are some obvious failure scenarios over time, like oxidation the exposed metallic surfaces, the glass collecting more grit, which will not only affect transparency, but might also cause the bulb to run hotter and eventually, seals may get porous and the xenon atmosphere inside the bulb will leak out.Originally posted by Scott Norwood View PostComment
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The Ushios we supply come with a warranty for a set number of hours or two years from the date of sale, whichever comes first. There is a reason why the manufacturer is only willing to (financially) guarantee a shelf life of two years. Like others above, I've also used and serviced lamphouses holding bulbs that are a lot older, and in some cases decades old, with no problems or ill effects. The older bulbs I have seen fail were either because of anode pitting causing an unacceptable level of flicker, or failure of the seals causing depressurization and failure to strike. The only bulbs I've personally seen explode were the result of moisture contamination on its surface (which I wasn't aware of at the time, but saw the same dampness in the other projector in the changeover pair after the incident), and a failed ammeter causing me to accidentally pump way too much current into it.
So my guess is that the risk of a bulb exploding and damaging other lamphouse components purely as the result of old age are extremely low, but significantly above zero.Comment
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Originally Osram specified that lamps should be stored vertically with the anode on top as they had issues with their weight causing seal failures or falling off in storageComment
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